Felicity's Future
by Elise Marie
Summary: Five years ago she walked out of all of their lives to have a life the others could only hope for, a future that Oliver wished he could have deep down, until she walks back into their lives needing what only they can do best: save her. Written during season 2 so AU 5 years after that. Olicity. Mentions of past Sara/Oliver. TRIGGER: Child Kidnap/missing/peril.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Felicity's Future

 **Spoilers:** General for mid-season 2

 **Warnings:** Child kidnap, mild peril, perhaps some violence and strong language, gun use.

 **Rating:** T to be on the safer side

 **Category:** Future fic, Olicity, mild Sara/Oliver, children

 **Summary:** Five years ago she walked out of all of their lives to have a life the others could only hope for, a future that Oliver wished he could have deep down, until she walks back into their lives needing what only they can do best: save her. Written during season 2 so AU 5 years after that.

 **Disclaimer: All characters and the universe they exist in belong to the CW, Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and DC Comics. This piece of fan-fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was exchanged. No copyright infringement was intended and the original characters, situations and plots are property of the author. This piece of fan-fiction must not be archived without the author's consent.**

 **Author's Notes:** I desperately wanted my muse to help out with an amnesia or Moira/Felicity/Oliver fic, it refused and came up with this one instead. In short this came from, who would I turn to if anything ever happened to my son? And then I twisted it. Please be assured, no matter how much I want to keep you guessing, I would never harm a child – real or fictional.

It was both remarkable and annoying how easily she could remember her way so well. It had been ten years since the last time she had been, to a place she had often called home. In truth it was a place that felt like home back then. She guessed that it still did and that was how, despite some road changes and new crossings, she knew her way there perfectly. Nothing had really changed, not in all of this time and she remembered back to those days so fondly, she found that it was true – she did miss those days. She missed them more than she cared to admit, but right now she had far greater priorities. Parking up her car in its usual spot, she got out of the car and grabbed her bag, pausing after closing the door quietly. She was nervous. She was scared. She was so much that she had never been before approaching somewhere that she knew so well.

"Suck it up, Felicity, you're a grown woman."

Smoothing down her skirt and straightening her blouse, both items that she still wore on a daily basis, but felt strangely unfamiliar that day. Taking one final deep breath, Felicity followed the old familiar path into Verdant and to the door to the basement. Everything was just assumptions, but she figured that even after all of this time, she still knew Oliver better than anyone should. As she hoped that the door code was still the same, Felicity glanced up at the camera that was always monitoring this area, knowing that somebody downstairs had seen her. Who had taken her old job, she wondered to herself as the security panel blinked green. Her boys were useless really, she shook her head with a slight laugh. Her heels clicked on the stairs just as they always had done. She had always been the only person that everyone would hear coming, with her footwear and lack of ninja skills that the others had.

It was the smell that overwhelmed her first; the old familiar smell that had been a constant back in the old days. Sweat mixed with age and technology. Part of it was unique to Oliver, and so she paused halfway down the stairs at the thought of him. Despite everything over the years she had known these people that still lived in her home, she had not seen most of them in years. She saw them all then as she hesitated on the stairs. Oliver was on the salmon ladder, facing away from her as his back rippled with each jump. Roy and Sara were sparring on the mats and Diggle was sitting at her computers and it was him that looked up first, a huge welcoming smile on his face.

"Felicity," he greeted, giving her the courage to continue down the last few steps. It had been five years since she had seen him, since she had last walked out of the lair and QC.

"Hey, John." It felt good to see him and to have his arms wrap around her as he stepped forward. She relaxed into him for a moment, feeling some of the stress of the day melt away.

Sara and Roy paused in their sparring at the noise and Felicity noticed that Oliver had stopped on his rung, hanging in mid-air. "Fliss," Sara smiled, "You never said you were visiting!" The other woman quickly pushed Diggle out of the way for her own welcome. It had only been a year since the two women had seen each other. Sara had come to her in the dead of night, sharing a new bond together.

"Move over!" Roy joked, pushing Sara and causing both women to stumble as he hugged Felicity into himself. It had been about five years since she had seen him, but slightly longer than when she had seen Diggle. She had never said goodbye to Roy.

"I'm sorry," she whispered against his cheek and he squeezed her a little tighter in forgiveness and then he moved away. In all of the commotion, she had not heard him move and as Roy stepped aside, Felicity came face to face with Oliver, his chest still slick with sweat and his trousers hanging low. He wiped at his face with the towel over his shoulder and she faltered. They all expected her to hug him and they all noticed that neither of them moved any closer. It had been four years since she had last seen Oliver, after she had walked away from everything, they had found each other. She remembered it all.

"Felicity," he greeted and they all heard the forced lightness in his voice. She knew that he did not like surprises and that there might be some pain for him in seeing her. She could not help that and she could not think about that at the moment.

"Oliver." She tried to keep the same happiness of seeing him as she had for the others, but it all became too much and he was the only one who could see the truth that had momentarily been covered by her joy at seeing everyone again.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately and Sara thwacked him on the arm.

"Who say's something's got to be wrong to come visit us?" she smiled. The smile left Sara's face as Felicity broke. Quickly moving the few steps keeping them apart Oliver and Felicity both moved at the same time to crush against each other as Felicity released everything she had been feeling, openly sobbing against his chest as her tears mingled with his sweat.

"It's okay," he comforted as the other three stood by, watching in concern and worry. "What's happened?"

She pulled away from him and took a step away, but his hand found hers and kept her in place, unable to run any further away. "I need your help. All of you." She looked at the others briefly and then returned her eyes to Oliver's. "Someone's been kidnapped and you were the only person I thought of. People," she corrected herself quickly.

"Don't tell me it's…" Diggle said and when Felicity nodded, crying again, he cursed out loud.

"What? Who?" Roy questioned.

"My daughter, Jessica. I went to work this morning and she the Nanny was with her. I got a phone call at lunchtime to say that Jess had gone."

"Have you called the police?" Diggle asked.

She nodded. "They sent Detective Lance." He had been promoted again after his help in the Slade Wilson case. It all felt a lifetime ago to Felicity, the life where she had been Felicity Smoak.

"Pause for a sec," Roy interrupted. "You have a kid?"

"Not now," Oliver snapped. "What have they said? Are there any leads?"

"He wouldn't tell me, but he did ask me if I still had links to the Hood. I said no, but I'd already thought of you." Her first thought had been of Oliver.

Oliver nodded sombrely and opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped himself. "Where's Matthew?" Diggle asked, it was a similar question to the one Oliver had considered.

"He's at home." More tears escaped her eyes. "He's not happy that I was coming here."

"You did the right thing," Sara comforted, taking hold of and squeezing her friend's shoulder. "We'll find her."

"Did you guys all know that Felicity had a daughter?" Roy asked, stuck on that revelation.

"Why do you think she had to stop working the night job?" Sara questioned as Diggle headed over to Felicity's computer.

"Let's see if there's any news coverage before I start hacking."

"I'll call Lance." Oliver finally released Felicity's hand moved to the side, using his Arrow phone.

"You hack?" Felicity asked as she tried to ignore the fear that was constantly within her now.

"Still not up to your level." His smile was warm and she tried to take comfort from it.

"Detective Lance," Oliver said in his normal voice but in the tone of the Arrow. "Something happened to a friend of mine. Yes, Mrs Stillman's daughter. I would appreciate everything you have. Thank you, Detective." He turned to the others who were all approaching one of the computer screens where Diggle had pulled up a local news feed. "I've got a meeting with him later to get an update."

"In the local news," the news anchor said, "We have an Amber alert out for a four year old girl. Jessica Stillman." An image of a young blonde with a huge smile appeared on half of the screen. It was one of Felicity's favourite photos that she had given to Lance. More tears threatened to spill down her cheeks, but they halted as Roy spoke.

"She looks just like all those photos Thea hates around the…" He stopped when he realised what he had said and slowly turned to Felicity. "Oh, that's why they all knew."

Her eyes widened as the other three turned to look at her. There was confusion on Sara's face, sympathy still on Diggle's and nothing on Oliver's, but she could see the anger behind his eyes.

"Or they didn't," Roy mumbled.

"Is… Is Jessica Matthew's daughter?" Oliver stuttered out. "Because I have to agree with Roy, she looks an awful lot like Thea did, but that's just a fluke, right? Because you would have told me if she were mine, right?"

Felicity backed away, her eyes wet with tears that she had no idea if they were there out of fear for her daughter or because Oliver truly looked like he could kill her. She watched helplessly as Diggle put a hand on Oliver's arm. "This isn't the time, Oliver."

His jaw clenched and he ground his teeth together for a few moments before he turned away from her and to the computer. "Have you got anything yet?" He demanded of his friend and Diggle began going through what little he had found in the short space of time. Felicity remained standing a few feet away, her body starting to shake. In that moment she hated herself for lying to them all, for hurting Oliver, but worse than that, she hated herself for losing her daughter.


	2. Chapter 2

Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver noticed Roy move away from all of them as they listened to Diggle as Roy went to Felicity's side. "It'll be okay," he whispered to her. Oliver wanted to punch something. He wanted to hurt something so badly that it would wipe its entire existence from history just to make himself feel slightly better. He needed to focus on finding Felicity's daughter and Felicity was just a distraction. His focus needed to be on what Diggle was saying, not how Roy was comforting her, because he needed to find Jessica. He had to put his anger and disappointment for Felicity to one side to find… his daughter. And he certainly needed to ignore the thoughts regarding that to focus on the task. Without actually looking up, Oliver addressed Roy.

"Take Felicity upstairs. Thea should be in, she can look after Felicity so we can all concentrate."

"No," Felicity objected. "She is my daughter. I can help. I was part of this team before and I can be again. You're not doing this without me."

Oliver turned and glared at her, willing his anger to stay inside. "You're not part of this team anymore." He had no idea how harsh it sounded and he did not really care.

"That is my daughter!" she yelled nearly hysterical.

"And apparently mine!" he yelled back, watching her flinch, but she did not back down. "If we need your help, I'll ask for it. And if Thea's seen the news she'll notice the resemblance quicker than Roy did so help me by damage control with her."

Felicity's face set in a hard stare that, despite the years and the shocking news, Oliver had missed.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

They walked up the stairs and out of the lair in silence, his arm on her elbow a comforting and reassuring act for both of them. There was so much that she wanted to say to him and she assumed he had as many questions for her, but Felicity could not think about all of that right now. Her daughter was missing, she had vanished form their family home and Felicity had no idea why, where she could be or who could have done it. Detective Lance had managed to get her alone as her house filled with SCPD officers, searching everything in sight for a clue, and he had asked her the question she had already asked herself over and over.

" _Could this have anything to do with The Hood?" His voice was quiet, but he mumbled the last two words even quieter._

" _I… I don't know." It was an honest answer. "I don't think so. I've been out of that for years and you were the only one who ever knew." She knew that she was the only one who knew the truth about Jessica, that even she had hoped Matthew was her father until she saw her and knew. There was no one else so it could not be for that reason._

 _No,_ Felicity told herself over and over, _this had nothing to do with The Arrow, The Hood or Oliver Queen._

"It is going to be okay, you know," Roy said as they headed towards the bar area where they could already hear Thea pottering about. "Even before… The moment he saw you needed him he stepped up."

Nodding silently, Felicity paused as she saw the younger Queen sister. "Does she know? About you guys yet?"

"No," he shook his head and she saw the pain of the secret on his face. She felt it, too. "Hey, Thea," he called over and she turned.

"Hey," she greeted him back and then looked curiously at him and Felicity. The thoughts were turning over in her mind that she recognised the blonde from somewhere. "Do I..?"

"This is Felicity, she used to work for Oliver."

"Right. Ms Smoak?" It was a wild guess, it was obvious from her eyes that it was.

"Mrs Stillman now, but, yes, that's me."

"Are you…? Is everything alright?"

Felicity knew that she must have looked a state. It was gone two in the afternoon, she had received the call about Jessica at twelve so that made two solid hours of pretty much crying.

"Her daughter's gone missing," Roy explained. "Can you take care of her? Oliver and I are going to help look for her."

"Of course." Thea took hold of Felicity as Roy moved away and she took her to a seat at the bar. "Sit down. Can I get you a drink? A hot tea maybe."

"I'm fine. Could you turn the news on? It's silly," Felicity continued as Thea moved away to put the local news channel on. "Because if anything happened, I'd get the call first, but somehow I want to watch the news as if it'll tell me first. Crazy, huh?"

After only a few moments, the news coverage turned to the Amber Alert and showed a family picture of Felicity, Matthew and Jessica. It was a selfie from a family picnic only a few months ago. As Felicity looked at it she began to cry; it was Matthew's favourite photo of them all.

"You look so happy," Thea mumbled and Felicity sobbed a little harder for what was happening and what she had done. She had guessed, all of those years ago, that the child she was carrying could be Oliver's. She was not stupid and she understood biology, but she had hoped that it was Matthew's. The moment Jessica had been born, she had seen the resemblance and knew that Oliver was the father and she had considered telling him. She really, truly had, but he had made his thoughts on her clear. There had been no going back after their one night together so there could be no going back after Jessica had been born. Now, Felicity knew that even if they got Jessica back safely, her family would never be happy again. There was no way that Oliver Queen would disown his daughter.

"We were."

The image Felicity had supplied came on the screen and she noticed Thea smile again. "She's a little cutie, isn't she? Adorable. I have a photo with my hair in bunches like that. I look just like…" She trailed off just as Roy had done a few moments earlier and Felicity felt herself cringe inwardly. "Oh!" Thea turned to Felicity who stood up and leaned over the bar, reaching for a bottle of anything. "Did he know? What am I saying, of course he didn't, otherwise we'd all have known."

"Shot?" Felicity asked, pouring out two shots of whatever she had grabbed hold of.

"I don't think right now is really the time, do you?"

Shrugging, Felicity downed the first and then held the second up to Thea. "Just one to settle everything."

Thea took the glass and downed it. "Where's your husband now?"

"Matthew? At home."

"What happened?"

"I needed Oliver."

 _Detective Lance was hovering at the end of the table where Felicity and Matthew were both sitting opposite each other. Her husband was lovingly holding her hand, squeezing it tightly as they either kept randomly sobbing or being silent, tears constant from one of them. There was a half-finished painting on the table underneath their arms and the paints were still out by her side. The Nanny must have been painting with Jessica before she went into the hall to take a phone call. When she had come back, Jessica had gone. Felicity had no idea what was going on, she had no idea who could possibly have taken her daughter._

" _Ms Sm- Mrs Stillman," Lance corrected himself. "You're sure that you don't know who could have done this?" He had already seen her in private, asking her if The Hood could be involved. She shook her head. "Mr Stillman?"_

" _No," he croaked out and began crying again. Suddenly she felt useless and helpless and so she yanked her hand away from Matthew's and stood up. "Where are you going?"_

" _I…" She considered wandering off alone for some peace. She considered simply finding another room where there was no Matthew, no Lance and no Police Officers. Then she considered lying. "I need Oliver."_

" _Oliver!" Matthew yelled, standing up and knocking his chair over in the process. The bang made Felicity jump. "It's always damn Oliver, isn't it? Even after all of this time, he's still always your first thought, isn't he?"_

" _He can help."_

" _Then Detective Lance can reach out to him, can't you?"_

" _Of course I can, if you think he can help. His money and resources might come in handy, but right now you are of more use here, Mrs Stillman." She shook her head. "If the kidnappers try and call they might want to speak with you."_

" _Then you can find me."_

" _Felicity, do not walk away from me right now!"_

 _She looked Matthew in the eye and saw the grief and despair that she felt mirrored back, but there was nothing that she could do for him. "I can't." She shook her head and walked out._

"Because of his money?" Thea asked and then corrected herself. "No, because if you were a gold digger, you would have come around when she was born."

"He's her father and he can find her. I trust him."

"But you could have rung him and stayed with Matthew?"

Felicity shook her head. Matthew could not comfort her. She could not just be _the mom_ in this situation no matter what Matthew believed or Oliver said. Felicity needed to be helping alongside her team. It might have been her former life that she had left for suburbia, Matthew and then Jessica, but it was her former life that would get Jessica back. "Thea, have you got a laptop around here?"


	3. Chapter 3

Ten minutes later Felicity dashed away from Thea, laptop in her hand and she ran back down to the lair beneath the club. Oliver was the only one standing there, hunched over her computer as her heels clicked down the stairs again only this time much faster. A clean top and jeans covered his body as he continued looking at the screen. He did not look up, he did not even move, he simply said, "I told you to stay upstairs."

"Where are the others?" she asked very slightly out of breath.

He turned then and leaned back against the desk, crossing his arms as if protecting himself from her. "Chasing up some leads, asking a few questions. What have you got there?" He nodded his head at the laptop.

"I hacked into the city's feed and found a car that was in the area when Jessica was taken."

"We already know."

"Then why are you still standing here? You're not even suited up!"

"Because I need to remain calm and objective, like you aren't."

"Because it's my daughter we're talking about!"

"And mine," he yelled and then quickly regained his composure. "So I can't go in there all Arrows blazing."

"You trust them?"

"Of course I do, Felicity, once upon a time so did you. Or have you forgotten that in your time away? I guess once upon a time you would have trusted me with the truth."

"I'm sorry," she whispered and began to cry again. He took the few steps towards her and took the laptop from her hands before enveloping her in a hug as she sobbed into his chest. "I shouldn't have come to you. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have you told you like this."

"Of course you should have come here," he countered. "We'll talk about the other stuff later, okay?"

"What if there is no later?" If they never got Jessica back there would be no point in explaining things to Oliver

Cupping her face with both of his hands, forcing her to look at him he promised her. "We will find Jessica."

"Promise, promise me that you will be there."

He stepped away from her. "Since Tommy died, I can count the number of kills I've done on my hands." He shook his head. "And I hate each and every one, but years ago I broke my promise to Tommy, I killed for you. What do you think I'd do for her? For you again."

"I don't care," her voice shook and they both knew it was a lie. They both knew that if a life depended on it, yes, Oliver would kill and cope with it, but they both knew that Oliver would have trouble remaining objective.

"Yes, yes, you do, Felicity. I think there have been enough lies, don't you?"

"It was only because… I never told you because…"

"Tell me later." He turned back to the computers.

"You were with Sara," she continued. "I had my life, you were getting on with yours, with her, how could I destroy that?"

"Because it's my child!" He roared loudly and she flinched, but fought away the tears.

"The night that we… that you came to me… the last time that I saw you, that was your choice, that was your decision. You chose her, just like on the island. You would always choose her."

 _It was dark and cold, night time across Starling City and Oliver was at his office window, looking out over everything that he had sworn to protect. He felt battered and bruised, physically and emotionally after the week from Hell, but Slade Wilson and all of the Mirakuru guys were gone. Except for Roy, but the young man had handled himself so well that Oliver was proud of the man he had become, now with a full control over his powers. During the fight, Oliver had realised just what sort of a man he really was, however, and he hated himself. Slade had been his friend, his saviour once upon a time and he had killed him, finally taking the second eye and then, in a macabre scene, he had helped to ensure that the Mirakuru could not heal him. Surely dismemberment was not something that could be cured, right?_

" _I saw the news." Turning Oliver saw Felicity standing in the doorway and he smiled genuinely for the first time since it had all finished. "Congratulations seems such a stupid thing to say." Looking at her, standing there, he realised how much he missed her. A year earlier, Felicity had married someone, Oliver had been happy for her in his own way, and she had stopped working as his EA soon after; in fact she had stopped working for QC completely. Soon after, with the threat of Slade still looming over them, Oliver had made the hard decision for her and told her to stop working for him at night. She had a husband, a new job and a life that she needed to be fully committed to. Oliver had never admitted it to anyone, but he knew that Slade was after everyone he loved so he sent away the person he loved the most without her knowing. Nothing could fully stop her helping, though, and she would randomly appear in the lair, maybe once a month, with random new computer programs or information she had stumbled upon. Each time he had smiled when he saw her in her usual place, at home with her computers and her family. He often wished that he had not sent her away._

" _I've missed you," he blurted._

" _Diggle still not as good a hacker?" It had been a year since she had dropped in on the lair, since Oliver ordered her to stay away._

" _No one will ever be as good."_

" _Well, it's not like you needed it. You guys got Slade. Starling City is safe once more." He nodded, his eyes finally leaving her face. "Now what?"_

 _In that moment, Oliver ignored everything that he had ever said or done to her. He forgot how he had ordered her away as something screamed within him to keep her close. He forgot how he had encouraged her relationship with Matthew even as his mind told him he was losing her. He forgot how hard he had tried to forget her, how he had still watched her, how he had needed to be close to her despite how she had moved on. All he thought and remembered was that once they had needed each other and he had never stopped. Crossing the room quickly before rational thought could enter his mind, he grabbed her and crushed his lips to hers, preventing any protest. Not that there was any protest as her arms wrapped around his neck and they both finally let go._

"No, I didn't!" He yelled back. "That night." He pointed at her accusingly. "That night I chose you."

"I think your memory's hazy, Oliver. You chose me for the night and then went back to her as you sent me back to my husband. You always went back to her."

"You had a husband, Felicity! Do you not think that I crossed the line that night, big time?"

"Yeah, a line that you never wanted to cross and told me so. You told me to walk away and never come back. So I did what you ordered, just like I always did. I left and I never came back. I never saw anyone connected to you ever again. For you."

"Don't! Don't make me feel guilty for releasing you when you had my kid and never fucking told me. That's a line that shouldn't ever be crossed!" She stood there rooted to the spot as he stormed past her and out of the lair. Suddenly the place that had once felt like her home now felt like nothing.

Sitting down at her computer, Felicity paused for a few minutes before deciding to see what was on the computer screen. No matter how crappy Oliver had made her feel, she still needed to find her daughter. Felicity jumped and spun around on the chair when she heard a noise from the other side of the room. Stepping out of the shadows in the far corner was Sara. "How long… How long have you been there?"

"Long enough." She was dressed as the Black Canary as she crossed the room and stood not far away from Felicity.

"I…" She had no idea what to say. How was she supposed to apologise for sleeping with her boyfriend all of those years ago? And having a child by him. It was just all more crap that Felicity did not need right now.

"Don't bother." Sara waved her hand in front of her. "When you got here and told us about Jessica, that Ollie was her father, I can do simple Math."

"I never… I'm sure that he never…"

"Chose you over me? He did that the day he told you he was happy for you and Matthew. Anyway," she shrugged as if it all meant nothing to her, her friend's betrayal. "Not like I never did it to Laurel."

"But you… you loved him."

"I explained that to you a year ago."

 _Felicity was asleep when the knocking started to invade her dream and she forced her eyes open and looked over at the window. There was definitely a gentle knocking coming from the window. Glancing across at Matthew, he was fast asleep and facing away from her so she slipped from their bed and approached the window. She had no idea who it could be, but her dreams still had Oliver coming to her window and whisking her away. That would never happen. Somehow managing to make the crouching position look comfortable, Sara, dressed as the Canary was sitting on her window ledge. Felicity smiled and pointed down, indicating that she would meet her downstairs. As Felicity quietly made her way through her house, she first quickly checked on Jessica who was fast asleep and gently snoring._

 _Wrapping Matthew's coat around her, Felicity joined Sara in her back yard._

" _Patrol bring you this far out?" she joked and Sara smiled. It was a forced smile. "Sara, what's wrong?"_

" _Ollie and I are over."_

" _Again?" Sara glared at her. "Sorry, but you are both quite up and down."_

" _For good."_

" _Not that I mind being woken up at," she glanced at her watch. "Three am, but why have you come all the way out here?"_

" _To tell you."_

" _Thanks? Seriously, if this is about wanting a girlie chat, could we do it in the day?"_

" _I always felt like there was a ghost in my relationship with him." She began to wander around the backyard slightly and Felicity realised that whatever was happening was happening now. "At first I thought it was Laurel, then Shado, then Laurel again. Then I wondered if it was the ghost of Oliver's past, or the old me. Maybe even Nyssa, but I knew it was his ghost and not mine. It isn't any of those people, Fliss."_

" _Who is it then?" There was no one else that Felicity could think of that meant that much to Oliver, not more than Sara did._

" _You."_

" _Me?" Felicity laughed incredulously before wondering ever so slightly if Sara had come to take out her competition. "I'm not anything in your relationship. I'm not anything to Oliver. Not any more."_

" _He loves you."_

" _Sara, I got over all of this a long time ago." It was a lie, but she hoped her friend believed her. "If he ever loved me, he would have told me. There were opportunities. But he never did, because he always chose you and I, I've come to terms with that."_

" _He stopped choosing me years ago."_

" _I've been gone for years." Except for that one, very random night, where he had still chosen Sara at the end of it but had left her with Jessica._

" _Hence the ghost thing. Come on, Fliss, keep up." Sara smiled genuinely and Felicity knew she had nothing to fear at all. "He chose you when he forced himself to be happy for you and Matthew, when he faked his encouragement of your relationship with him. He chose to give you that way out, but kept me by his side."_

" _Yeah, see that sounds like choosing you."_

" _Slade would have killed you long ago, Felicity, if you'd still been in the team."_

" _What? Because I'm the weakest." Even after the years of being out of that life, Felicity not only thought about it all far too often, but she still considered herself weak. She loved her new life, her role as mother and she would not take it back, but she did daydream about having it all – mother by day and the IT geek to The Arrow at night. She would not be Mrs Stillman, no, she would be Mrs Queen. Whenever she would shake the daydream out of her head she would hate the reality to which she returned for a moment. Only because she was reminded of the constant lies that she told to herself and she hated it._

" _No, because he loves you. And, yes, I mean the present tense. I have no idea what it's like to live a normal life." She sighed sadly. "So I haven't come here to tell you to leave yours behind; if you truly love your husband of course it's not even an option. I just wanted to let you know, tell you that he's all yours and he can stop having a ghost." She smiled a goodbye and then swiftly made her exit, leaving Felicity to slowly wander back to her bedroom. When she got there, she watched her husband for a moment and then turned away. She spent that night on the couch._

"So you're just accepting the fact that sometime before you came to me, I cheated on you with him. Our friendship I mean."

"He was never mine and it isn't like what you guys did caused him to break things off with me."

"No, I believe there was an engagement announcement not long after." Felicity remembered seeing it in the newspaper only a few weeks after she and Oliver had spent the night together. She had rushed to the kitchen sink and vomited up her cereal, blaming it on morning sickness to Matthew, but he had already seen the paper, remarking that they made a beautiful couple. Before Jessica was even born the engagement was off, but Felicity still read in the gossip columns that the couple were on again and off again. Until the night Sara visited her.

"For what it's worth," Sara said quietly. "He still has a ghost following him. And you can tell yourself as much as you want that you're happily married, but you still came to Oliver."

"He's her father."

"Yep." Sara nodded as if she did not buy Felicity's excuse. "I better head out."

"Where to?"

"Ollie would kill me if I told you."

"Bring her home to me." Sara squeezed Felicity's hand as she walked past, a promise in her smile, and once she was gone Felicity sat down at the computers that would forever be hers. Clicking around on the screen a little bit, a map popped up with a destination that she recognised. Researching slightly more on the computer she discovered that it was where the suspicious car was and Felicity grabbed out her cell phone, scrolling through her contacts until the one she wanted. Checking the address which belonged to her contact, Felicity's stomach fell. "No."

She ran out of the lair and was in her car without a second thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Walking back into the family room of the address the whole team had gone to, Oliver shook his head as did the others. There was no sign of Jessica in the house, but the plain, black rental car was parked out front. Diggle had traced it from Felicity's house to this one and as it had been the only car in the neighbourhood at the time, it was their only real lead. Of course, whoever had taken Jessica could have done so by foot, but the team could hardly accompany the SCPD to the crime scene, looking for clues. Diggle had searched the car, relayed to him that there were signs of a child being in there and that there were some minor signs of a tussle, but it by no way meant that Jessica had been in the car.

He needed to find the girl, the daughter he never knew he had. He had no idea what had gone through her mind all of those years ago, but if he was truthful to himself he had told her to leave and enjoy her life. He had told her to forget about him and then he had gone straight home to his girlfriend and proposed to her. If anyone asked him, he would unlikely be able to explain except to say that he figured Felicity was happy in her life. He had kept her at a distance for years as they worked side by side and then he actively pushed her away as his true feelings started coming to the surface. He had known that she would be pulled back in by him if they maintained contact, so when she met Matthew, left QC and got married, Oliver had known the only way to allow her to be truly happy and truly safe was to let her go. So he had done so, with a push. Until that night that she had turned up so completely unexpected and so beautifully unharmed by all of the chaos and fighting. He had pulled her back in, further than he had before. She had no idea, but he had awoken before her and had watched her sleep, knowing that he never wanted to let her go. For the first time he had felt something for the sleeping Felicity that he had never felt before, not even with Shado.

She had stirred in his arms and he had seen her wedding band so he had shook every thought and feeling from his mind, extricating himself from her and getting dressed, leaving her there alone on the couch. When he reached the door she had awoken.

" _You just gonna leave me here?" she asked. "So your new EA, secretary or maybe Isabel can find me in the morning? Classy, Oliver."_

" _What's classy about a wife doing her ex-boss on his couch?" he bit out, refusing to turn around. "Go home to your husband, Felicity, and I'll go home to Sara." He paused, knowing that he needed to send her away and make her stay away. She had to be safe and he wanted her to be happy with Matthew. He was no good for her, far too broken for anyone other than Sara. That was why they kept gravitating back to each other even when they both loved someone else; Sara loved Nyssa. He had to let Felicity go, once and for all, and he needed to move on. "Don't bother coming back. This should never have happened. I didn't think I had many lines left to cross." In all of his days, Oliver had never been the one to sleep with a married woman. No, he might have been happy to have an affair with his girlfriend's sister, but never a married woman. "But I just crossed the last one with you. Goodbye."_

 _He walked out of his office and to the elevator without once glancing back._

What she had obviously never realised was that he had watched her leave, from across the street where he hid in the shadows, and then, taking a short cut, he had beaten her to her home and made sure that she was safe once more. Now he needed to make sure that her daughter was safe.

"She's not here," Roy said obviously.

"But was she?" Sara questioned.

Oliver opened his mouth to speak, but the front door burst open and in ran Felicity who began to desperately search the house. "Felicity, what are you doing here? Sara, did you tell her where we were?"

"No!"

"It was on the computer," Diggle said.

"She isn't here?" Felicity questioned and Oliver shook his head. "I don't understand this."

"We followed the wrong lead," Oliver explained as Felicity shook her head.

"No, no, you don't understand." She searched around the room and found a photo frame by the window. "Here." She thrust it at him and he raised his eyebrow.

"This is you, Matthew and Jessica. Who are the other two?" They looked like Grandparents; it was another happy family photo like the one on the news. Felicity had been happy with her family. How could he blame her for never telling him about Jessica?

"My in-laws. Mr and Mrs Stillman Senior. Matthew's parents."

"Is that their rental?" Diggle asked and she shook her head.

"Have they taken my girl?"

"Felicity," he paused as she looked at him in panic and he wanted instead to calm her down. His body froze and he ignored his desire, asking instead, "Is there any way that they, or Matthew, could have figured out that Jessica isn't his?"

"What? No."

"She looks nothing like him if she looks like Thea," Sara offered.

Felicity shook her head. "I have no family photos. They think she looks like me."

"Digg, can you take her home and tell Lance what we found?"

"No," Felicity objected. "I'm not leaving. I need to find answers."

"Yes, and you might get them from your husband," he spat the word out as if it burnt his tongue and she bristled at it. "If his parents are involved, he might be."

"No," she shook her head. "He would never hurt her. She's his daughter."

"Felicity, often the culprit is a step-father," Diggle said nervously.

"He isn't. He doesn't know. There's no way that he can know. Jess loves him and he… he loves her… he wouldn't…" She began sobbing again and Diggle immediately caught her and gently led her outside, nodding his head at Oliver as he went.

Once they had gone, Oliver addressed the other two. "We need to background check all of the Stillmans. Including Felicity. Trace their phones, check their communications. Everything."

"None of us are as good as Felicity." Roy shrugged his shoulders, the tension clearly showing that he was not comfortable with suspecting his friend.

"No, but she's more prone to conclusions than any of us right now. And she has been out of the game for a few years."

"Can you promise to not jump to conclusions?" Sara asked him and his look questioned her. "If you find something that makes Matthew look suspicious are you going to run with that or see it objectively? This is your daughter we're talking about."

"A daughter I didn't know existed until a few hours ago. Yes, I will remain objective."

"Because you always have done when it comes to Felicity?" Oliver opened his mouth to respond, but her look dared him to try and find a valid response. "Have you even considered what you're going to do if someone's hurt your daughter? Or what will happen after you rescue her?"

"Let's just find her first." Then, and only then, would he allow himself to think about what he was going to do about his daughter.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

Whilst Oliver, Sara and Roy headed back to the lair to begin their background checks, Felicity sat quietly in the passenger seat of her own car as Diggle drove it the short distance to her own home. She refused to believe what Diggle said; Matthew would never hurt Jessica and there was no way that anyone could know he was not her father. Even if they did, he had been her father for four years which made him her dad. Just because Oliver was her biological father did not change everything overnight.

"Are you happy?" Diggle's sudden question made Felicity jump.

"What? No, no not right now, my daughter's missing."

"Before that. When you went to bed last night, when you woke up this morning, a week ago, were you happy?"

"Digg…" she tried to object.

"The life that you have, is it a happy one?"

"I don't need your guilt right now. I have enough to worry about with Jess without worrying how hurt Oliver is that I kept this from him. Or how it's going to tear my family apart because Matthew is never going to forgive me. I don't need to feel guilty for loving my child and giving her a happy, stable family life rather than a chaotic, shambles or a privileged one. Yeah, I should have told Oliver years ago. For him, for Jess, for Matthew, for me, but I didn't. I couldn't. I thought it was for the best and I still do. Because no," she toughened slightly. "I would never have told Oliver if this hadn't have happened and whatever I feel about that, I won't be made to feel guilty about it."

"I meant, were you happy away from the life you had? All of us? The danger and drama?"

"Oh." She sniffed and wiped at some tears on her cheek. "Then, the answer to that is yes. I lived in an ignorant bliss of a lot of things, primarily the crime and danger this city holds." They fell into silence again. "I missed you." She looked over at him, his attention on the road, but he glanced at her with a smile. "All of you and the life that we all had, but I couldn't have done it with Jess. She deserves the full attention of a Mom and a Dad, not a crime fighting vigilante who might not come home one night."

"He'll understand. Maybe he already does, and he will calm down. It's a huge thing, a huge shock and a huge mission he's dealing with right now." She opened her mouth to question their mission but then realised that Diggle meant finding Jessica.

"I never thought about it, honestly," she admitted to herself more than to Diggle. "I'd often wonder how he would be as a father, but it was just Oliver, not the Arrow, so it was only ever going to be a dream. But I never thought about telling him. It was never a possibility so I've never thought about what would happen after. Now," she was crying again. "Now, I keep thinking about what's going to happen after we find her. It's like I can't focus on anything else. I can't think about the possibility of not finding her, so instead my brain keeps dreaming up these horrendous scenarios about after."

"What do you mean?"

"Even once we find her." They were all still speaking in present tense because they all refused to consider there being no hope. "What happens to my family then? Does Matthew forgive me? Does Oliver tell him? It's going to break Matthew's heart, but Oliver won't be happy disappearing. He shouldn't have to either. Neither of them should suffer because of what I did."

He put a hand on her knee. "Everything will sort itself it out when we get her back."

They pulled into her street and Diggle parked up, but neither of them moved. The street was still filled with police cars and Felicity finally voiced the thought she kept hiding from. "What if we don't?"

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

As he headed through the corridors at the back of Verdant, Oliver could hear the news channel playing from the main bar area and he paused for a moment knowing that it meant Thea was there. Shaking it off, he continued and tightly smiled when she looked up at him.

"Ollie…" she began, but he held up a hand.

"I don't think now's the time."

She nodded at the television screen. "She's yours."

"Her mother and father are desperate with worry. Her family want her back."

"That includes you."

"No, Thea, it really doesn't." Years ago it had been Felicity that had told Oliver the truth about Thea's father, a few months after that Thea had found out. It had not been an easy time, but they had all come out of it the other side.

"That little girl deserves to know."

"Who was your father, Thea? That's all you needed to know and all that Jessica needs to know."

"So if she's found, you're just going to walk out of their lives?"

"I can't walk out of a life that I was never in."

"You know what I mean. That little girl," she pointed dramatically at the screen. "Is your daughter. She deserves to know you and you deserve to know her. You want that, don't you?"

"It doesn't matter what I want."

"Did you… Did you ever love Felicity? I only ever thought she was your secretary, but was she ever more than that?"

"She was never just my secretary."

"Is that why you and Sara didn't work out?"

"Thea, now is really not the time." The thoughts and all of the questions had already swum around in his head, but he needed to remain objective and ignore whatever his answers might be. It was not the time to start questioning his own life or that of a family that had been happy six hours ago. Everyone involved had been happy that morning at breakfast and perhaps, when the morning came again, with Jessica back at home, everyone should wipe this horrific day from their minds.

"Fine." She held up her hands in defeat. "There's one thing that you haven't considered in all of this." He raised an eyebrow at her. "If I recognised myself in that photo of Jessica, what do you think Mom will see when she catches the news?"

"Shit," he cursed quietly and nearly ran from the room, desperately trying to call his mother as he went. Once outside, Ollie jumped onto his motorcycle and pocketed his cell. Moira Queen had not answered her cell, which was either a really bad sign or just simply that the Mayor of Starling City was busy. Something told him that nothing would be that simple and so he set off for the Stillman residence.


	5. Chapter 5

The question reverberated in her head as she stared at the dash in front of them until finally Felicity took a deep breath and looked up, out of the window and at her house again. She could almost picture Jessica running around their small grassy front lawn, laughing and giggling as one of her parents attempted to chase her to their car. Matthew and Felicity each had their own cars to get to and from work and so they took it in turns in the morning with Jessica when she was being looked after by her grandparents. Of course things were simpler on the two days a week that she stayed at home with a nanny. Felicity could see her daughter though, running and giggling. Ultimately she always ran to her father first; Jessica was a daddy's girl. Felicity desperately wanted to go back to the breakfast they had shared that morning and freeze time, even without her doubts, if they did find Jessica their family would never be the same again.

Something inside of her suddenly snapped and Felicity rushed from the car and ran the short distance to her home with Diggle close behind her, calling her name. It might have been the sight of the police officers. It might have been the thought of their happy family unit being destroyed, but suddenly Felicity was angry with Matthew. Storming into her house, yelling for her husband, she found him still sitting at the kitchen table with Detective Lance standing nearby.

"Where are they?" she demanded. Diggle ran in the room right behind her, concern written on his face as he nodded a brief hello to Lance.

"Where are who?" Matthew asked, standing up in defence of her attack.

"Your parents. Where are they?"

"I… I don't know. I called them earlier, when it happened and they didn't answer. I think they had plans to go away for a few days."

"Well, that's fucking convenient, isn't it?"

"Felicity!"

"Mrs Stilllman, please calm down. What is this about?"

"Matthew, so help me God. Tell me. Tell me that you're not a part of this."

"How dare you?" he asked angrily. "How… She is my daughter. How could I have a part of this?" The anger left him and tears began to roll down his cheeks. Felicity gulped in air and took a step backwards, her shoulders slumping slightly as if her attack was over.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"We traced a car," Diggle explained. "The only one seen in this vicinity at the time of Jessica's disappearance."

"She may have been taken by foot," Lance said. "Or she may have wandered away."

"I told you," Felicity argued. "She wouldn't do that."

"What car was it?" Matthew asked.

"A rental," Diggle answered. "But we found it at your parents address."

"They wouldn't do anything like this."

"We'll try and locate them," Lance said moving to one side and speaking into his radio. Meanwhile Matthew turned to Diggle.

"Who are you? I recognise you."

"I'm John Diggle." He held out his hand, but Matthew remained still, his hands on his hips in an increasingly angry stance.

"You work for him, don't you?" Matthew shook his head. "You really did go running to Queen, didn't you? Why? What hold does that man have over you?"

"I… I needed his computers."

"You have computers at your own office. At least there you actually work in IT."

"And if I got caught hacking there? My bosses would sack me."

"Of course," he responded sarcastically. "But not Mr Queen. No, he's the CEO of the best company ever. He'll do anything for you, even help you break the damn law. I honestly thought, when you left there, him, everything, for me, you would actually leave it all. But you never have, have you?"

"Matthew, Jessica has been taken and Oliver has resources that we can't access without him. And, yes, I need my friends."

"All you should need is me."

Felicity opened her mouth to speak, but she knew that he was correct. When she had fallen in love with Matthew, she had believed it with all of her heart, but she had always known deep down, that he was not even a best friend. "I'm…" She had no idea what to say.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion," a police officer said entering the room. "But I have the Mayor here, she would like to offer her support."

"Oh, holy crap," Felicity began to breathe deeply, grasping at her chest and leaning forward slightly onto the kitchen counter. Diggle placed a hand on her back as Moira Queen entered the room.

"Mr Stillman," she offered her hand, which he took hesitantly. "I came as soon as I saw the news. Mrs Stillman, Felicity," she corrected herself. "I can only imagine what you're going through right now."

Felicity could not stand up straight, she could not look at the woman who truly did hold all of the power. Diggle leaned in closer to her and she whispered through her tears and hyperventilating to him, "She knows."

"If there are any resources that I can provide, either as the Mayor or as a Queen, please let me assist."

"So my wife goes running to a Queen and then another one turns up. Do you guys really think that the whole city revolves around you?"

"We can't ignore the fact that your daughter may have been taken because of us." Moira explained and Felicity began to shake her head.

"No. No, don't. No." She managed to sob in-between harsh breaths, tears and shakes of her head.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your daughter, Jessica, she is my grand-daughter, isn't she? Of course that carries a motive."

Felicity was distantly aware of Moira continuing to talk, of Lance stepping forward and trying to question her and of Diggle holding her shoulder very slightly tighter as she forced herself to stand up straight and look at Matthew. Her tears halted and her breathing seemed to stop. The entire room seemed to freeze and he looked back at her, hatred and disappointment filling his face. And then she saw his heart break and he stormed from the room, slamming the door as he went. "Matthew!"


	6. Chapter 6

As Oliver pulled into the street, the cop cars were the first thing that grabbed his attention, along with Felicity's car which meant that Diggle had got her back here safely, but he also spotted his mother's car with her driver still sitting patiently inside of it. _Crap_ , he thought, fearing what his mother had done now. He had hoped she was in meetings, that she had not seen the news and that he could have got here to warn Felicity or stop his mother before she got there. He had no real idea, but he knew he had to do something. Climbing off of his bike, Oliver stored the helmet and began, hesitantly to cross the quiet street, approaching the house. The police officers nodded at him and no one stopped him as he began up the small drive. He had never seen her house in the daylight before; Oliver had known relatively nothing about her new life until she had turned up.

He was five steps up the drive when the front door of the house crashed open and Matthew stood there, paused and focussed on Oliver. He had met Felicity's husband a handful of times before they had married, even performing a deep level back ground check on the man she had then chosen to spend her life with, but Oliver actually knew very little about the actual man standing a short distance away. Matthew took the few steps down from his porch and closed the distance with Oliver in an aggressive manor that usually Oliver would have never have allowed. Not only was he not The Arrow at that moment, he was also the man in the wrong, the man who had broken the wedding vows of the man in front of him. It was clear in Matthew's posture that he knew.

Oliver let Matthew throw his punch, allowed him to connect with his cheek and Oliver stumbled back a few steps. He was prepared to take whatever the other man wanted to throw his way. Standing back up, Oliver faced Matthew, tasting blood on his tongue. Matthew punched him again and Oliver repeated his own actions, standing in front of him again.

"What? You're not going to fight back?" Oliver did not answer as Matthew grabbed him by the neck of his t-shirt. "She was my wife!" Fighting his instincts to fight back, Oliver put his hands up in a show that, no, he was not going to fight back. Matthew forced Oliver backwards and crashed him up against the tree in the front yard, banging him against it forcefully. "My wife. You just… You just couldn't let her go, could you? Don't you have enough with all of your money and all of the women, why did you have to take her?" He hit him against the tree again. "You had my wife's heart, did you need to claim her, too?"

"Matthew!" Felicity's voice rang out from somewhere behind Matthew and then she was at their side. "Matthew, let go of him, please." She put a hand on his arm and tried to gently pull him away.

"She… She is all I've ever had." He released Oliver and stepped away, shaking Felicity's hand off of him. "When did you know?" he asked. "When did you take my daughter from me?"

"I found out today." It was the first thing Oliver had said. "Felicity came to me for help finding her and I… worked it out."

"So she didn't actually tell you?" Matthew laughed, fidgeting around slightly where they were all gathered. It was then that Oliver noticed his mother, her bodyguard, Diggle and Detective Lance all gathered around the porch area. His mother was conveniently still up on the porch, distancing herself from the commotion. It was only an assumption, but he knew that she was responsible. Matthew turned to Felicity as Oliver watched carefully and quietly. "So have you actually told anyone? Or has everyone found out from someone else?"

"No one was ever supposed to know."

"But you did? Right? You knew. The moment you realised you were pregnant, you knew and lied to me, tricked me into this."

"No," she objected. "I hoped it would be yours. I had no idea until she was born and I saw her." Her eyes flickered to Oliver and Matthew stepped to his side, blocking Oliver's view of her slightly and gaining her attention back.

"You were never going to tell anyone? You were happy to let me bring up another man's daughter?"

"No!" she shouted. "Jessica is your daughter. Nothing will change that."

"Was it just a one off? Or have you been seeing him the whole time? I should have known. Why else would you have been working as his EA when we met when you're supposedly so much better? But you're not, are you? You're no better than a common whore." The anger in his voice crumbled as the pain engulfed him. Matthew grabbed his wife by the shoulders and shook her slightly. "Why?" he demanded in a harsh whisper. "Why did you do all of this?"

Felicity opened her mouth, trying to find an answer, but Oliver could see that she had none, shaking her head instead. From his position, Oliver could not see the anger building again in Matthew until he shoved Felicity away and she tumbled backwards onto the floor. Oliver reached for Matthew's left arm, spinning him around and away from Felicity even as Diggle approached, heading for Felicity. As he spun, Matthew hit out with a punch that Oliver ducked this time and Matthew stumbled away. Oliver moved to stand in between the married couple and held his hand up at the husband.

"You do not get to hurt her." Glancing over his shoulder, Oliver could see Diggle had helped Felicity to her feet and she seemed okay. He wanted to ask her, but he could not make the words leave his mouth. Remaining where he was until Matthew's body relaxed slightly, Oliver then lowered his hand and arm. "Perhaps we should all go inside."

Matthew's jaw clenched as Felicity with Diggle walked past them and he then reluctantly followed. As Oliver passed his mother who was still on the porch with her bodyguard and Lance, Oliver glared at her and hissed. "You did this." As he followed everyone into Felicity's modest and welcoming home, Oliver's cell rang and he answered it. "Yep?"

It was Sara and Roy on speaker phone. "We've located the Stillmans, they're on holiday, but their car is already turning around and on their way back."

"Presumably they either got a message or saw the news," Roy added.

"Everything else seems to check out," Sara continued. "But there is one odd thing."

"What is it?" Oliver asked, meeting Diggle's eyes he indicated that there might be something to go on. Diggle approached him, leaving Felicity alone on one side of the kitchen, sitting on a chair and playing randomly with something in between her fingertips. Matthew was standing on the opposite side of the room, his arms crossed against his chest as Lance stood in the doorway as if guarding the room. Oliver could not see Moira and her bodyguard, assuming that they were in another room. She was probably mobilising whatever forces she could as the Mayor.

"Until today at twelve noon, Matthew has received regular phone calls or text messages from the same number. He's responded to them all, too," Sara explained.

"These texts," Roy said, "Are incredibly regular. They only really tail off at night time."

"The calls are pretty much only incoming to Matthew and only during work hours and not the weekend."

"So, it's probably a work thing?" Oliver questioned, his suspicions not up at all. Even so he glanced over at the worried father.

"Except there have been no texts since twelve," Sara said sceptically. "He's sent a few texts and made unanswered calls to the number, but he's had no response."

"I have a feeling there's more you guys aren't telling me."

"Well, I'd question," Roy said, "Why this married guy is sending absolutely filthy texts to a number registered to a Michelle Wassell, whose cell is now switched off."

"There's also some credit card records, Ollie, they indicate that Matthew and this Michelle have been together quite a few times. There's at least three hotel records."

Oliver's eyes closed and his head dropped forward slightly. Letting out a long slow breath, he thanked the guys and disconnected the call. "What is it?" Diggle asked. Turning around to the whole room, Oliver sniffed and looked at Felicity.

"What?" she asked in blind panic, standing up. Her hands were shaking and he could hear the hitches in every inhalation she took.

"Matthew," he asked, forcing himself to look at Matthew and not Felicity. "Who's Michelle Wassell?"

With reddened, puffy eyes, Matthew glanced at Felicity and then at Oliver before returning his gaze to the floor. "She's, uh, well…"

"She's his ex," Felicity answered suspiciously. "They broke up a few months before we got together, but she always held a torch for him and remained on incredibly good terms with his parents." Matthew glared at her and she narrowed her eyes in response. "I wasn't the only one who brought ghosts into our marriage."

Oliver nodded at Diggle who stepped away and closer to Felicity as Oliver hardened his face, feeling more like the Arrow and not Oliver as he asked: "If she's your ex, Matthew, why are you guys in pretty much constant communication?"

"We're still friends."

"Not what my people say. If they look harder are they going to find more than phone calls and texts?"

"What?" Felicity questioned. "Matthew, what's Oliver talking about?"

Matthew rubbed his hand across his face. "She has nothing to do with this."

"Oliver?" She did not take her eyes from her husband.

"Credit card records indicate," he paused. "There have been hotel room purchases."

"You son of a bitch!" Felicity yelled, reaching for the glass of water on the table and throwing it across the room. It smashed against the wall next to him, Matthew flinching away; the guilt and sorrow were both clear on his face. Diggle grabbed Felicity as she began to cross the room, holding her back.

"Stay calm, Felicity."

"Calm?" she demanded of Diggle, fighting in his arms. "Calm? My husband's…" She turned to Matthew. "How long? How long have you been having an affair?"

Shaking his head in regret, Matthew answered, "A year."

"A year," she repeated, nodding her head and fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Don't," he commanded. "Don't play the poor innocent wife card here. At least Michelle isn't standing in my fucking kitchen. You cannot take the moral high ground here."

"Can't I? You've been having an affair for an entire year. Behind my back. How? How could you do that to me, to us, to Jess?"

"You did it first."

"You had no idea so don't tell me it's just tit for tat."

"Maybe I didn't know, but I knew you didn't love me, that you never have."

"Guys," Diggle interrupted and they both stopped and slowly looked at him. "Oliver, is there any reason to think this Michelle could be involved."

"Her cell's off. Have you tried calling her, Matthew? Have you spoken to her since Jess went missing?"

"I tried," he admitted and Felicity made a scoffing noise. "Yes," he snapped, "I tried to speak to my mistress, but you went running to your boyfriend." He turned back to Oliver. "She didn't answer. I tried later and her cell was off."

"Your other contact with her over the past few days, has there been anything off with her?" Oliver asked. "Anything you now think could be odd?"

Matthew shook his head, clearly thinking and Felicity pulled away from Diggle. "Wait, are you suggesting his girlfriend has taken my daughter?"

"It's suspicious, yes," Oliver replied, meeting her eyes as she bit her lip. He could see the determination on her face to keep her breathing steady as she nodded and simply walked past all of them. Moments later they heard a door slam somewhere upstairs. Oliver made a move to follow her which Matthew either failed to notice or did not care about, but Diggle stopped him.

"Stay here, I'll go to Felicity." As Diggle left the room, Oliver's attention turned to Lance who was questioning Matthew about Michelle. A part of him wanted to hate the broken man standing close by, but Oliver found that he could not. No matter how much of her pain was caused by Matthew, no matter how much seeing her in pain still made him hurt, Oliver could not hate or blame him.


	7. Chapter 7

Rushing up the stairs, Felicity made it to the door of Jessica's bedroom and there were two police officers still in there, searching through things. "Get out," she whispered. She did not want her daughter's things tainted by their hands and she desperately needed to be alone. They looked at her and she repeated it louder. Once she felt them move past her, Felicity slammed the pink door closed and looked around her daughter's room. She wished so much that she was just playing hide and seek, hiding underneath her bed or in the closet with the door still slightly open so it was not too dark. Felicity loved when her daughter did that. Sitting down on the comfy chair in the corner of the room, Felicity grabbed up Jessica's favourite stuffed toy and hugged it to herself tightly as she fought to not cry.

She heard the door open and the footsteps approaching her and, even after all of these years, she recognised Diggle without seeing him. He sat on the edge of the chair and pulled her to him, holding her as she stopped fighting.

"Everything," she said after her eyes could not take it anymore. "Everything was so easy this morning. I had Jessica. I had Matthew. I had all of this and it was everything. Now, I, I have nothing."

"First of all, you will get Jessica back. Secondly, you have never had nothing. You've always got us, me. No matter what."

She shook her head against him. "Not anymore. Not now that everyone knows. I was hoping, deep down, that we'd find Jess and just ignore today. Bury it again where I've always buried the truth. But Oliver won't let that happen. Matthew won't and he… he wants to be with her. My family's destroyed."

"And you will still, always have me, Sara, Roy; and Oliver will calm down and you two will work things out. You'll work them out with Matthew and you'll find a new way of being a family for Jess. I promise."

Pulling away and sitting back in the chair, she looked over at him with a wry smile. "I'm being a hypocrite, aren't I?"

"Concerning Matthew and Michelle?" Diggle shrugged. "They, by all accounts, have been having a relationship for a year behind your back. You didn't do that. I do think, though," he spoke slowly and carefully. "That neither of you have wanted to be in this relationship, that you both stayed in it for the sake of your daughter." He shrugged again. "You can't help who you love and who you don't."

"I love Jessica."

"Which is clear. As is the fact that Matthew does and as long as you two put her first once she's home, then everyone will be fine."

"Oliver."

"He won't push." She raised an eyebrow at Diggle. "I'll make sure that he doesn't."

"He will find her, won't he?"

Nodding at her, Diggle stood up. "I'll go and see if they've found anything."

Hugging her legs up to her after Diggle left, closing the door behind him, Felicity absently began to chew on a fingernail and completely lost track of time, her mind was so filled with _what if_ thoughts, but the tears stayed away. Broken out of her mass of thoughts, Felicity heard a gentle knock on the door and without moving she said, "Come in."

Oliver's face appeared first, a look questioning if he was allowed to enter further on his face and she smiled her approval. Stepping inside the room a few steps, Oliver looked all around him and Felicity found herself watching him. This was the first real glimpse that he was getting into his daughter, everything was either pink or purple. There were bookshelves filled with books, a beanbag chair underneath the shelves where Jess loved to sit. Oliver picked up the book on top of the comfy seat; it was The Gruffalo. He held the book as his eyes continued taking in the room. There was a little shoe rack on the opposite wall, with sneakers and fairy shoes sitting next to each other. A shelf above had dresses hanging down from it; Jess' dressing up collection of Disney Princess dresses. There was a plastic, sparkly tiara on the foot of her bed, which Oliver also picked up.

"Her favourite book," Felicity offered. "One of us has to read it every night to her. With these crazy silly voices. Like lisping for the snake. And that," she nodded at the tiara. "She loves to dress up. I caught her wearing that this morning and I told her to stop being silly and get downstairs for her breakfast."

"She seems to like dressing up," he remarked in his usual hidden voice. If she had looked up and met his eyes, she would have seen what he was feeling, Felicity was sure of that.

"She loves Disney. Her favourite at the moment is The Little Mermaid. But she desperately wants to be a Princess. It's all she asked Santa for last Christmas."

She looked up and finally met his eyes as he simply whispered, "Little did she know, she's a Queen."

"Don't, Oliver, don't start with me right now. I can't… I can't handle you right now, okay?"

"I didn't…" He paused and she looked away. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant, I don't know what I meant." He shrugged his shoulders and threw his arms up in the air, momentarily forgetting the objects he held. She ran at him to grab them from him.

"Be careful."

He handed over the book and tiara, shaking his head. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say or do. You know me, Felicity, I don't do too well with surprises and this pretty much ranks up there. And everything I'm thinking and feeling and questioning, I can't do a damn thing because it isn't the right time." She began to speak, but he cut her off. "And I know how awful this must be for you, because I feel scared for where my brand new daughter is, so I know that me feeling confused is the least of your problems, but something clicked." She furrowed her brow at him. "When I saw what Roy saw, when I realised that the daughter I knew you had, but had never met, was mine, it all clicked and I became a father. That's the only way I can explain how desperate I feel with her missing. But I can't say that to anyone. I can't get any sympathy. Those that know me, they know I fix everything and I will, I promise you. But my daughter's missing, too."

Nodding her head, she stepped forward and threw her arms around his waist. There was a slight hesitation but then his arms wrapped around her and he ducked his head, kissing the top of her head. He only allowed it for a second and then he pulled away and she knew that he was back in fixer mode. She felt the hesitation in him as he stepped away and broke all of their physical contact. "I, actually came up for a reason."

For a second she panicked that it could be bad news, but then she let out the breath. "What have you found?"

"There's a second cell registered to Matthew. When I asked him, he admitted that he had one. He used it…"

"To contact her? Even though he was using his family cell, too. Why not? I mean, sexting and phone sex on just the one cell? No, make it two." Oliver gave her one of his patented looks and she shrugged. "What did you find on it?"

"He couldn't find it in the house, so Sara and Roy traced it. It's switched off now, but they have its location from half an hour ago. They and the police are doing a sweep of the possible areas. It's a long shot."

She nodded. "Do you think she might have taken her?"

"I don't know, Felicity. I'm sorry."

She nodded her head and bit at her lip again, pacing the room with her arms crossed. "You. You should be out there, too. I don't trust the police. And I know, you'll bring her home."

"I'm leaving Diggle here with you and ignore everything my mother says."

"Still not on good terms?" The corner of his lips twitched slightly that anyone else would have missed it. "Oliver," she called him back as he began to leave. "When you find her, don't… don't tell her, will you?"

"Of course not."

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

Oliver was half way down the stairs, having left Felicity, when his cell rang. "We've found something," Sara said when he answered it.

"What?"

"I traced her cell, Matthew's second one, and was scouting the area where it had last been used."

He already knew that. "And?"

"With some more background checking, we found out that Michelle and Matthew used to work together in a factory within the radius of the phone. It's abandoned now, but there is movement." Sara paused. "Do you want us to move in?"

"No," Oliver answered immediately. "Keep your distance, but see what else you can find out. There's no reason to think that this woman is actually a danger. I'll be there soon, send the details to my cell."

"Done," and Sara disconnected the call. Oliver stared at his cell for a moment, reading the information from her. Felicity trusted him with this, but he would need to go in as himself and not the Arrow, there was no time to change. Maybe he would need police back up.

"Guys?" he called through the house and within seconds everyone appeared. Felicity was out of Jessica's bedroom and at the top of the stairs, Diggle, Lance and Matthew came running out of the kitchen and Moira opened the door to the family room. "We think we've found them. In an old factory building?" He looked at Matthew.

"The one I used to work in?" Oliver nodded. "That's where I met her, when we started dating. It closed down a few years ago, after the Glades was nearly destroyed. I'm… I'm coming with you. I know the building. I know… her."

"Me too," Felicity blurted, walking down the stairs and pushing past Oliver. "Come on."

Oliver glanced at his mother as he followed Felicity. "Stay here." He was vaguely aware of Matthew, Diggle and Lance following him out of the house. Lance went to some police officers whilst Diggle, Felicity and Matthew all got into her car. Oliver was on his motorbike and moving before any of the others could follow him. He needed to get a lay of the land first, check in with Sara and Roy and see what he could find out first, before he stepped into the role of Oliver at the scene. Part of him wanted to burst straight in, find the child and do whatever he needed to do to the woman, Michelle, but he could not act so hasty. There was no proof that Michelle was in the factory, no proof that Jessica was in there, but if his team had no other leads then Oliver had to hope his daughter was inside the run down factory as he approached it. Parking up, Oliver spotted Sara in the distance, kitted out as the Canary and trying to stay out of sight so he headed over to her.

"So, there are multiple entrances around the entire building, some blocked off, some created through broken windows or smashed in walls. It's not that big of a building, but there is some office space on the northern side. It's pretty dark in there, I couldn't see far without heading in and using a torch. According to the plans, there's three metal walk ways at various levels around the outer side of the bulk of the building. There is still a fair amount of machinery down on the main shop floor."

"Any idea about the offices?"

"It was too dark up there. Surprisingly the roof is still in pretty good condition, but it wouldn't take much for me to make an entrance up there."

"No. Too much noise. Where did you hear noise from inside?"

"I was looking in from the southern aspect and saw a figure crossing the main room, heading up one of the staircases to the walk ways. It could be a vagrant who simply lives here, or it could have been Michelle. I haven't seen Jessica."

Nodding his head, "Okay. Stay out here, see if you can find a way into the office area without any noise. Until the police arrive, you and Roy keep all of the exits covered. Once they're here, tell Roy to stay out of sight. And no one fires any kind of weapon anywhere near anyone in there until Jessica's safe."

"Got it. You do know though that four sides are difficult with only two of us. It's a pretty big building."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing. Just saying. I'm going to head back up to the roof." As she ran off, Oliver turned around and saw all of the cars approaching, hoping that it did not spook whoever was inside. As everyone involved, including a handful of police officers, left their vehicles and began to approach, Oliver met them half way.

"I hope you haven't gone in there, Oliver," Lance reprimanded and Oliver held his hands up in innocence.

"Just scoping out the area."

"Okay," Lance nodded and turned to the dozen police officers he commanded. "Fan out and take the perimeter, do not enter the building until you have the go ahead. We don't want to spook anyone in there."

"Do you think she is?" Felicity asked, not moving from the comforting arm that Diggle had around her.

"I don't normally recommend this, but," Lance said, "Matthew, I'd like you to come in with me. If it is Michelle that has taken your daughter and if Michelle is in this building, she may respond to you."

"Okay," he nodded and Felicity stepped forward away from Diggle.

"I'm coming in, too."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Felicity opened her mouth as if to argue and then she shrank away slightly. "Fine. But I want Oliver in there."

Matthew rolled his eyes and threw his arms up into the air. "Jesus Christ, Felicity, she's been my daughter for four years, I'm not about to let anything happen to her."

"And she will always be your daughter," Oliver corrected and reassured. "But if it keeps Felicity out here where she can do less damage, perhaps we should humour her."

"So you can be the hero?"

After all of his years with his alter ego alongside of him, Oliver still rarely felt like a hero, but he did desperately wish that he was suited up and here as the Arrow and not regular old Ollie Queen. "I just want to help get your daughter back and I am under no illusion that she will run straight to her father, you."

"My men are in place. Matthew? Oliver?"

Nodding at Lance, Oliver shared a look with Diggle that told his friend to keep Felicity safe, calm, and, most importantly, out of the building.


	8. Chapter 8

From her vantage point she watched her father send his men to secure the perimeter and then head into the building with Oliver and Mr Stillman. If anyone had asked Sara what her day was going to bring when she had woke up, this would not have been it at all. She was used to scoping out abandoned buildings, half of the Glades was still abandoned even after all of this time, and this one was not much different. Four levels in total, including the ground floor, with a third of the top three levels being office space. Even in the offices, the flooring was metal, the same as the walk ways and stairs. Some of the offices still had intact windows and doors, from what Sara had seen through the dirty, dusty exterior windows or the broken ones. Most of the furniture from the offices was gone, aside from the heavier, bulkier machinery on the ground floor which was mainly covered in graffiti. It all led to a building that was filled with echoes and could be a maze in places.

She had quickly lost track of the mysterious figure she had seen and she could not find any trace of Jessica, unless she were to enter the building. Sara was pretty sure of herself that she could do so quietly enough, but Oliver was not so sure and he was definitely running this mission.

The day that Felicity had announced she was leaving, Sara had known that it was for the best. The day that Felicity had started dating Matthew, Sara had known it was for the best. Sara had figured out pretty early on in her time on team Arrow that Felicity's feelings for Oliver went beyond friendship, but she never considered Oliver's feelings. Sara and Oliver had both been hell bent on continuing in their cycle, essentially hiding from everything else as well as each other. They had all lost count of their number of break ups over the years, which had become so common place that their final break up had barely been noticed by Diggle and Roy.

She saw the movement beneath her a second before she heard Felicity's voice in her ear. "Oliver?"

"No, Felicity, he's not live." Oliver had his communication system on him, but not active all of the time. Similar to his normal Arrow outfit, he needed to tap his chest to hear and be heard. "What's up?"

"I need a second way in."

"Is that a good idea?" Sara asked, starting to walk along the length of the roof, away from Felicity and Diggle.

"I need to be in there. If you don't tell me, I'll just do it myself and I'm likely to make far more noise."

"Diggle?" She could hear them wrestling for his comms.

"She's still as stubborn as him."

"Fine," Sara sighed reluctantly. "If you can get past the officers flanking the western side, I can get you in."

"Can you get me past the officers?" Sara shook her head, but smiled at the feeling of nostalgia Felicity caused.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

The three men entered the building and began to look out across the darkness as their eyes adjusted. In an ideal situation, Oliver would have picked a floor and started searching, moving from one to the next working on eventually finding whoever it was in the building. He could already see from the state of the building and the materials used higher up that no one would be able to sneak around it that much. All of the abandoned heavy machinery laid out in front of him seemed to have no clear patterns or lines to it; there were no clear paths through any of it, allowing for a lot of hiding places. He was finding it very difficult to not take the lead from Lance.

"Let's clear floor by floor," Lance said and Oliver was pleased that he had not suggested splitting up. Although why the detective would have suggested splitting up with two civilians in tow, he was not sure, especially as from an objective point of view, Matthew could be involved with Jessica's disappearance. Oliver found it hard to believe, but he still considered it a possibility.

"Matthew," Oliver said, "You know this woman best, should we go high or start low?"

"I… I don't know. I have no idea what her thinking would be after kidnapping someone."

"Is she afraid of heights?" Oliver suggested. "Where was her office? Yours?"

"Was there anywhere here that held special meaning to her, or to you both?" Lance asked, quickly cottoning on to Oliver's line of questioning.

All three men were still walking forwards, fanning out as much as was possible given the machinery. "Yeah," Matthew said, his steps slowing. "Yeah, we, uh, when we started dating our first date was a nightmare, a complete comedy of errors." Across the dim darkness, Oliver could see Matthew's eyes light up in fond memory. "We never got a goodnight kiss. The next morning, in the break room, I kissed her and she said that was when she knew that she loved me."

"Okay, so where is it?" Lance asked, gesturing for Matthew to take the lead. As he led them to the nearest staircase, they all paused when Oliver held up a hand and looked upwards. The other two followed his eyes and they saw someone standing on the second floor walk way, looking down and over at them.

"Matthew?"

"Michelle?" It was difficult to see her clearly in the darkness. "Michelle, what are you doing here?"

"What took you so long?"

Oliver glared at Matthew who shrugged at him, both then returning to watch Michelle. "I don't know what you mean."

"I left a message for you at work. To come here. I finally did it."

"Did what exactly?" he asked as Oliver began to quietly climb the metal steps in front of them.

"Who are they?" She sounded scared and that worried Oliver.

"Go along with her," Oliver whispered. "Don't rattle her."

"Don't!" she shouted. "Why is he coming up here? Who is he?" Oliver stopped climbing the steps and turned around slightly to watch her. "Matthew?"

"They're just friends. Listen, I never got your message. What did it say?"

"It told you to meet me here, because I've done it. I've made the way clear for us."

"Clear? Michelle, what have you done?"

"You sound angry. We discussed this. You said over and over that you couldn't leave your wife because of Jess, well I did what you wanted, what you needed for us to be together."

Oliver saw Matthew's body tense and he gently put an arm out and touched the other man's bicep. "Stay calm, keep her calm." Matthew glared at him and then, nodding, called back up.

"Can we come up there and talk? Rather than shout around?"

"Why have you brought them?"

"Because of Jess," he admitted. "I was worried about her and they're here to help."

"Well, you've found us, so you can send them away. We don't need them or anyone else. It's just the three of us now. I tried to tell your parents, but they weren't home. We can tell them where we've gone, once we're settled."

"Matthew," Oliver hissed quietly. "Have you ever discussed running away with her?"

"Yeah," he whispered back. "But I always said it was just a dream because of Jess. I wouldn't take her from her Mom or leave my daughter. So you do have Jess?" He directed the last part at Michelle.

"Of course I do."

"Here?"

"Yes. She's somewhere safe whilst I came looking for you. I knew it wouldn't take too long, but we should have been away hours ago. Your secretary is useless at passing on messages."

"Find out where Jessica is," Lance said.

"Can I come up?"

"Yes, but not your friends. You don't need them anymore. We only need each other."

"Matthew," Lance objected. "I can't let you go up there alone."

"I may have a solution," Oliver said and grabbed his cell, dialling Diggle. "Diggle, have we got eyes up high?" It would be easier to use his comms, but Lance might question that.

"Yes, Sara's up there."

"Okay, we have Michelle on the second floor walkway. She says she has Jessica and wants Matthew to go up to her. Can you get someone closer?"

"I've sent Sara," Diggle said after a moment's quiet. Oliver then nodded at Matthew who moved past him up the stairs. "We, uh, we might have another problem."

"What kind of problem?" Oliver asked and Lance moved closer.

"Felicity's in there."

His eyes closed as he nodded his head. "Of course she is." Leaving Lance behind, Oliver was already on his way to the next set of metal stairs.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

Quietly stepping on the hard, metal flooring, Felicity took her attention from her debris laden path to quickly check her tablet and the building plans. When Matthew and she had started dating he had still been working here, for a company that had long since gone bust, but she could not remember her way around at all. In truth, the plans were not too helpful because although they showed where the walls were, the divisions between offices and break out spaces, even the layout of some of the bigger machinery on the ground floor, the derelict building barely resembled the plans; Felicity was working on an assumption that she was following the main central corridor.

Growling low in frustration, Felicity lowered her tablet and began moving faster, stepping over the debris in her path. Sara had managed to get her access on the top floor by way of a broken window, not that she had been happy about it at all.

" _Ollie's going to kill me," Sara said, holding Felicity's elbow as she manoeuvred her way through the shards of glass._

" _No, he isn't." Sara quirked an eyebrow at Felicity's words and state of being slightly out of breath. "The building is more dangerous than the woman. Anyway, whilst he and the others start from the bottom, I can start from the top."_

" _It might not even be Michelle in there; it could be a crazy, psychotic villain with a gun."_

" _It's Michelle. With Jess. It has to be." Nodding, Sara smiled as Felicity smoothed out her entirely inappropriate work clothing and looked into the dark building, trying to get her bearings._

It had to be, Felicity repeated to herself. This had to be where Jess and Michelle were. If it was not Michelle who had taken Jess, then they had no leads to go on. If they were not inside of this building, they had no other leads to go on. They had to be here. That was as far ahead as Felicity could think.

Pausing, Felicity automatically held her breath as she heard a noise nearby. Checking her immediate surroundings and seeing that she was definitely alone, she closed her eyes to focus on the sounds more. At first she wondered if it could be footsteps and perhaps it was Michelle approaching, but then it began to sound more like a mouse. Or maybe a rat. She followed the scurrying noise, her eyes open but still moving slowly, quietly and trying to keep her breathing as quiet as possible. She moved through what had once been a doorway, but the door was broken off of its hinges and sat propped up against a wall on the opposite side of the room. There was a desk next to it and some remnants of a chair, filing cabinet and some other standard office furniture.

The scurrying noise was coming from behind the discarded door. Felicity stepped towards it and questioned calling out in a whisper, but was too scared that it would be a mouse or rat and she would then scream and completely break her cover. Instead, squashing her fear of rodents and clinging on to the hope that it could instead be Jess, Felicity moved closer to the door. As she peered behind the door, making a triangle shape with the wall and floor, Felicity realised that she was holding her breath again for silence and then she breathed the biggest sigh of relief in her life.

"Jess?"

"Mom?" The little girl looked up, her bright blue eyes shining with tears in the darkness.

"It's okay, baby, come here." Felicity held out her arms, but Jessica hesitated. "What is it?"

"She… the lady said I had to stay here."

"You don't, honey. Come on out."

"She said Daddy would find me here."

"I know where Daddy is, I'll take you to him." Her baby nodded and crawled out of the tight space, straight into Felicity's arms. Felicity squeezed her daughter so tight, but Jessica did not squirm like she usually would, and Felicity fought the few tears that wanted to spill out of relief. Pulling back slightly and gently cupping her daughter's face in her hands, Felicity studied her little girl and then asked, "Are you hurt?"

Jessica shook her head, Felicity noticed the dirty, grubby marks all over her face and how her hair was coming out of its pigtails, as Jessica said, "I am hungry though." Smiling, Felicity crushed Jess with another hug and then stood up, trying to pick up her little girl. She fought her. "I'm a big girl, Mommy. I can walk."

With a great reluctance, Felicity nodded and took hold of Jessica's hand. "Okay then. You need to be quiet until we get out of here, okay?" Jessica nodded, walking alongside her mother and moving just as quietly as Felicity retraced her steps to the window where Sara had left her. Glancing out very slightly, Felicity hoped to get Sara or Roy's attention and not the police's just yet. "Jess, in a minute someone's going to turn up and take you back down to the ground, okay?"

"Daddy?" the girl whispered.

"No, a superhero, like the ones you read about in your comics."

"Ooooh," she said excitedly and no longer whispering. "Can it be a girl one? Like Supergirl?"

"How about the Black Canary?" Sara said from the window, a smile on her face as Jessica's face lit up.

"Wow!"

"Okay, honey," Felicity said picking up her daughter and passing her to Sara. "Hold on really tight and then stay with the Canary until Daddy or I are with you, okay?" Jessica nodded and Felicity turned to Sara. "I'll find my way back down and maybe find the others on the way."

"Are you sure? I can come back for you?"

Felicity shook her head. "No, stay with her, please." A noise dragged Felicity's attention to behind her and she heard Matthew's shout. "Go!" she commanded to Sara who immediately flew away with Jessica. Then she heard the gun shot ring out.


	9. Chapter 9

They arrived on the third floor, the top floor and where Matthew's office had been in what seemed a lifetime ago, when Matthew saw his wife standing at the end of a very long, dark corridor whose walls were still mainly standing. He only realised it was her from her silhouette as a small stream of daylight lit up the immediate area around her. He swore he could see someone outside of the window, hanging there, as Felicity seemed to hand something over.

"Jessica," he whispered and Michelle froze.

"No," she complained at the sight that she could see, too, and then she started to reach for something in the waistband of her trousers. It took him only a second to realise what it was.

"Felicity!" he shouted and Michelle growled at him. He moved towards her, wrestling with her arms as she fired her gun.

"What are you doing?" He demanded, his hands clamped around her arms and holding them tightly in place. "Where the hell did you get a gun from?"

"I'm protecting our family," she cried. "I got it from your parents just in case she turned up. I knew she'd find a way to ruin this, to stop you from leaving with me. We can come back for Jessica, I promise!"

"You're fucking crazy!" he breathed out, secure in the knowledge that his daughter was safe so he no longer needed to play along; the rest of the world be damned.

"What?" she stumbled back a step, her arms relaxing and he let go of her. "I did all of this for you."

"I never wanted you to."

"Yes, yes, you did." Still holding the gun, she launched herself at him in anger. Matthew's mind clouded as he felt something hard and metallic hit him on the temple; his world spun.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

Managing to quietly take two steps at a time until he hit the third floor, the sound of the commotion and where he assumed Michelle had taken Matthew from his brief checks on the other two floors, Oliver sped up when he heard Matthew shouting Felicity's name and then a gunshot. When he burst out onto the top floor, his eyes were drawn to Matthew and Michelle having a fight about twenty metres to his right. Scanning around for Felicity, he saw her off in the distance near a window, walking hesitantly towards all of them. There was no sign of Jessica.

There was a loud thud that brought Oliver's attention back to Michelle and Matthew. He watched as Matthew slumped to the floor and Michelle stood up straight, pointing her gun at Felicity. "You bitch!" she yelled. "You ruined everything, my whole entire life. He was supposed to be mine. This was supposed to be my family. You've ruined everything."

For a split second, Oliver's attention was taken from Michelle to the noise behind him as Lance suddenly burst through the door from the stairs, his gun already out. "Put the gun down!" he commanded, slowly approaching the crazy woman. Oliver started to slowly step backwards towards Felicity when there was an aggravated scream and a second gun shot. Lance immediately ran in the direction of Michelle and Oliver looked over at Felicity who stumbled back a step and then another step, she never noticed the large gaping hole in the floor; Oliver did.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

The gunshot rang out, a strange sound after all of the years, and Felicity stepped backwards once and then twice, as if distancing herself from it and then, on her third step, she realised too late that there was nothing beneath her foot. Her momentum carried her over and she slipped down, falling backwards. It took only a moment before she felt arms around her, turning her in a split second so she was falling face down, her eyes only able to see Oliver's chest directly in front of her as he held her close. Whilst it did minimise the impact, she still felt it as he hit the next level down's floor, rolling them two complete turns so he still ended up on the bottom as the momentum stopped them. She took a second to breathe, to hear his heartbeat underneath her ear and know that they were both alive before she closed her eyes in relief and then pushed herself up. His arms still around her waist stopped her from moving too far.

"Thanks," she whispered into the darkness.

"Next time I tell you to wait outside…" he grumbled.

"Sorry. I… I got Jessica out."

"Good."

"Are you… are you okay?" she asked finally and his arms suddenly released her. Shakily she got to her feet, awkwardly because of her skirt and heels, and then held a hand out to him. He took it but only as a show as he used his free arm to actually push his weight off of the floor.

"I've been hurt worse," he admitted with a few groans as he stretched out his legs and twisted his body around slightly. They were still holding hands.

"Thank you for everything. Today. For Jessica. For me."

"Come on," he said, beginning to lead her off in a direction she assumed would get them out of the building. His senses were always far better than hers. The only place that she could not get lost in was a computer mainframe. He kept hold of her hand, or perhaps it was her that kept hold of his as they made their way through the entire building and neared the entrance. Before they stepped into the light beaming in through the large door-less entryway, she glanced up at him. He refused to look down at her, gently squeezing and then releasing her hand instead.

She walked out to find her daughter.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

Letting her walk out into the daylight, back to her family that perhaps was not quite as perfect as he had imagined, Oliver felt like he was letting her go all over again. All of those years ago, when he had been too wrapped up in hating himself and seeing only darkness within him, falling into Sara and away from her over and over in an attempt to not hurt anyone else, he had released Felicity into the light. He had encouraged her to find a life outside of him, to walk away from the darkness that he brought everywhere. He had seen her start shrinking, like a flower would without daylight, as she continued in his life. He had watched her dwindle in personality as his mother's secret tore at her, as his relationship with Sara tore even harder. He had seen her become infected by the darkness that had infected him, Sara, Diggle, too many people that he had known. So he had set her free. He had released her from being his EA, promising her that she could return to IT, but she chose to leave. He had probably encouraged it. Then he had started to encourage her to leave their night job, she needed to exist in the daylight and not in his darkness.

He had never wanted her to walk away completely. He had never wanted her to walk away at all, but he knew it was the best thing for her. She could have a normal life with Matthew. Many times Diggle had tried to speak with him, to reason with him that he was only hurting himself by pushing her away, by continuing in a cycle of pain with Sara, but Oliver knew it was better that he hurt than her. Until they had defeated Slade and she had turned up. He allowed himself to step into her light for that one night, knowing that it could be nothing more and trying to never think about it after. The guilt of that night had played so strongly within him – guilt over Felicity's marriage more than him betraying Sara – that he had proposed to the girl who was more his twin than a lover.

He never had stopped thinking about Felicity though and he knew, as she walked out into the daylight physically and figuratively, that he never would in some way.

Standing up straighter to give an air of bravado, Oliver followed her out of the derelict building and passed everyone that was standing there. An ambulance had arrived, gathered at the back of it were Matthew, his head in a bandage, Felicity and Jessica. The little girl's parents were holding onto her as if for dear life. Lance was standing there talking to a few officers as Michelle was dragged into another cop car, screaming and screeching about being a better mom, that she belonged with Matthew. Oliver shook his head and continued past everyone, heading to his motorcycle.

"Hey." Oliver turned to see Matthew standing there, his wife and child momentarily forgotten. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"No problem. I didn't do much." The dust covering his back had probably given it away that he had done something to help Felicity, but he had not done anything aside from assemble the people who found Jessica's location.

"I guess," he sounded hesitant. "It's also what you didn't do." Shoving his fists into his trouser pockets, Oliver questioned him with a look on his face. "When you found out, you could have gone all gung ho about Jessica." Oliver nodded, his lips tight. "When I hit you, you could have hit me back."

"No," he shook his head. "No, I couldn't have."

"Thanks, is all, for helping my… my family." Oliver waited for Matthew to turn and walk away before he then continued to his motorcycle; Diggle was already there.

"You okay?" Diggle passed him his helmet and Oliver took it, climbing on to his bike, but keeping the helmet in his hands. He watched as Matthew reached Felicity and Jessica by the ambulance, capturing them both in a hug.

"She's safe. That's all that matters."

"She's your daughter." Oliver glared at Diggle who held his hands up. Oliver's eyes flickered back to the happy family. "And she's the woman you love."

"Which has never mattered," Oliver responded quickly. A lot of the things he did or had done for Felicity were because he loved her. The only thing he had ever done for himself because of his love for her was keep her at an arm's length.

"Do you really think she's going to work things out with him? After all of this?"

"He'll still be Jessica's dad." _And I'll still be the same guy with a dark soul, damaged and broken and far from what a child needs._

"You're not that bad of a person, Oliver. You need some happiness, too."

Taking one last look at the family that were still hugging each other desperately, Oliver put his helmet on and drove away part of him wishing that he could have what they had.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

Fighting the urge to remain standing where she was, Felicity drew herself up straight from leaning on the doorframe to her daughter's bedroom and with incredible hesitancy, went downstairs into her kitchen, gladly accepting the hot cup of tea from her husband. Jessica had been asleep for three hours, but they still both kept checking on her. Every thirty minutes and it seemed to be like clockwork, check the doors were locked, check all of the windows, double check Jessica's window and then watch her sleep. The watching her part had started to become shorter in time. She sat down at the kitchen table with her drink whilst he remained standing near the kettle, leaning backwards against the worktop, his cup in his hands.

"So," they both said at the same time and then they smiled awkwardly. Everything had changed since that morning, but it all still felt incredibly similar. "You go," Felicity offered.

"Were you ever in love with me?" There was no anger in his voice, nor was there hatred. It was not a question to begin an argument, simply to discuss the truth and get the long hidden secrets and facts out into the open.

"I thought I was. In love with you that is, because I do love you." She sighed and sipped her tea. "When did you realise that I didn't feel like that?"

"I think I knew. Probably from the beginning, but you made all of the right choices. You kept putting me first so I figured you must be in love with me."

"I tried. I really, really tried. I think, for a while there, I fooled myself into believing it."

"But not the night you went to him?"

She bristled despite the innocence in his tone. "I still can't remember how I turned up at his that night. I only went to check that he was okay, QC had been attacked, do you remember?" He nodded at her. Slade Wilson had launched his final attack, had lost his life, along with many innocent people, and she had needed to see Oliver. She had been part of the Slade-Mirakuru story and needed to be a part of its ending. It had never been her intention to sleep with Oliver that night. She had just needed to see him. "I don't know what happened."

"I think we both know what happened." Guilt stabbed through her at how calm he seemed. They had both seen this coming. "Did you know, that she was his?"

"Not immediately," she shook her head. "I hoped she was yours, but then I saw her and I knew."

He paused and Felicity could only imagine what the man she loved was thinking, or how much he was hurting. "Did you ever think of telling him?"

"No. I promise you, no." She remained silent until his eyes met hers. "And not because I was scared of what he would do, or because of what it might do to us, but because Jessica is your daughter. No matter what happened, that night or the months after. No matter what I did or what you've done. No matter what happens now, you are Jessica's father."

"What does happen now?" She had never heard him sound so vulnerable and scared, it broke her heart.

"I figure our marriage is done for." Forcing a smile, she could not help the tears that welled in her eyes and he nodded at her, tears filling his eyes, too. "I mean, we're not in love. There's the whole Michelle thing."

He nodded his head, his eyes on his cup as she watched him. Part of her wanted to hate him for cheating on her, but she knew that they had both simply been going through the motions with their life together. How could she blame him when he had known she was not in love with him? "I am sorry," he whispered.

"For cheating or cheating with a crazy woman who kidnapped our daughter, knocked you unconscious and tried to shoot me?" His eyes shot to hers in apology, but he laughed slightly when he saw the smile on her face. "I don't blame you. I haven't … seen him in years, but I guess, mentally, I've not been here with you. I was with him." She was not only admitting it to him, but also herself for the first time.

"I have one request." She looked up at him. "Whatever you feel and whatever he feels, don't go running to him. Don't pretend like the last five years haven't happened. I don't know the guy, and I hope he is playboy rat who has no desire to be a father, but that isn't what I saw and he will want to be her dad. But don't rush everything and don't erase me."

"Matthew," she objected, pushing her chair back and almost running the short distance across the room to him. She pulled him down into a hug. "I have no idea what's going to happen. But she is my first and only priority. I have no idea what role Oliver wants, part of me could care less, and you are her dad, forever, no matter what happens with Oliver."

"It's just…" he mumbled into her shoulder. "He's a freaking billionaire. What daughter wouldn't love a daddy that can buy her everything?"

"A girl whose daddy has been there every day of her life so far and given her all the love she needs. Anyway, she's four, how much can you really spend on her?"

"I don't know," he joked. "She loves her shoes just like you do. That's enough to bankrupt anyone."

Felicity laughed and pulled away from him, kissing his cheek as she did so. "I might go check on her again." He nodded as she stepped away and then left him swiping at his eyes. She had no idea how it was all going to work, but she strangely had faith that it would. Checking Jessica's bedroom window for the umpteenth time, Felicity paused as she thought she saw movement in her neighbour's tree. It was probably the wind, but Felicity felt somehow reassured by it and not concerned. Smiling, she let the curtains fall closed again and turned to watch her daughter sleep. Everything would work itself out.


	10. Chapter 10

In the shadow of the tree he stood where no one could really see him, as he watched the family be just that. He watched them each check all the house multiple times and then check in on their child as he stood, his hood up and his senses on alert. He watched through their kitchen window as they finally seemed to spend some time alone together. And then they were embracing and he lifted his head, questioning and feeling a jealous ember start to burn in his chest. He watched her walk away from him and back to their daughter, pausing to glance out of the window and his breath halted as her eyes seemed to meet his despite the impossibility and distance.

He only released the breath when she smiled and moved away, he bowed his head slightly for a moment in the regret of what could have been.

"Adding stalker to your list of talents, Mr CEO-Vigilante-Playboy?"

"I haven't been a playboy in quite some years, not even as part of a façade." Glancing at Sara he noticed her smile, but he kept his face stony. "And I'm not stalking. I'm guarding."

"You could guard from inside you know?"

"With their little family?" He shook his head. "No. They're better off without me."

"Well, that's a load of crap and you know it." He glanced at her and then resumed watching Felicity move about inside of her home. "He was cheating on her, for what? A year? And she was never in love with him." He sighed at her words, still watching Felicity. "From what I saw and heard today, their marriage wasn't a bed of roses, if it was even still a thing."

"So?"

"So, if their marriage was as good as over, if they were just going through the motions…"

He interrupted her. "Then what? She can come running back to me? Sara, she never had me. We've never been a thing, why should we be now?"

"Because one of these days you have to stop being stubborn, and alone, and unhappy. And, don't," she stopped him as he opened his mouth to speak. "Don't tell me you don't deserve happiness, that you deserve to be alone because it isn't true and it's too late now. That little girl," she pointed up at the darkened window. "She is your daughter and whether you want to admit you're in love with Felicity, you know damn well that you have to and want to be there for your daughter."

"She has a father."

"And now she'll have two. Anyway," Sara shrugged her shoulders. "Your Mom isn't going to let this slide by."

"How do you know?" he asked quietly. "How do you know she was never in love with him?"

"Because she was always in love with you." Oliver turned around, but Sara had already gone.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

It had been two very long days and two long nights since Oliver had discovered he had a daughter and he had not spoken to Felicity since. He had visited her home both nights and simply watched from under the nearby tree, watching them attempt to live a family life. He told himself, and his team when they asked, that it was to protect Jessica, but it was not solely for that reason. He wanted that family life, even down to the fact that Matthew had apparently moved into the spare bedroom because it was not about wanting Felicity, it was the family and the daughter. But he had no right to make any demands or even say anything. That four year old little girl who looked so remarkably like Thea in photos and from a distance, but who he had still yet to meet, had a mom and a dad who loved her; she was innocent in all of this.

Oliver had picked up his cell the day before, just before leaving for his night job, after his secretary had said goodnight, and had considered phoning Felicity. Something had stopped him, but he knew that he would do it. At some point, soon, he would call her. They needed to talk about Jessica, about what role Oliver was going to have and what the future held. Any of the anger he had felt at being lied to had already dissipated and he felt he understood Felicity a little better now with a few days of hindsight. How was she supposed to have come and told him the truth? She was happily married, safe and secure without any knowledge of how Oliver would have reacted. He knew that he would have taken her in straight away, he would have been a father from that very moment, but would he have been able to love Felicity in the way that she wanted? Even he was not sure of that now.

Looking up and staring around the outer offices, Oliver realised how dark it was and that it was probably far past going home time. Picking up his cell he realised it was gone seven and he moved to push his chair backwards to leave, but he paused and opened his contacts, scrolling down to Felicity. His thumb hesitated over the call button and then cancelled out of every screen, pocketing his cell and standing up.

"Working late?" She was standing in the doorway, just as she had that night many years ago and the sight still took his breath away. "There was no one at the desk." She waved behind her at the desk that had once been hers and smiled at him.

"My staff is severely undertrained. But," he added with a smile. "Carol does bring me coffee."

"No?" she smiled in return, stepping one step further into his office. "I thought we maybe needed to talk."

"How did you get past security? And how did you even know I was still here?"

"Your security hasn't been updated since I left, you never finish work early and Diggle helped me out a little." They both smiled again as he found himself fidgeting with some papers on his desk.

"I was going to call."

"Me too. I just didn't know what to say."

"Same." An awkward silence fell over them, until Oliver moved around his desk. "Did you want to talk here? Or we could grab something to eat?"

"I've had dinner."

"With Jess."

"Spaghetti and meatballs, her favourite."

"Where is she now?"

"At home with Matthew." Of course she was, Oliver thought, a pain shooting through him. "I, uh, I wanted to say thank you."

"What for?"

"A whole heap of things," she waved her arms around, her bag swinging wildly. "Mainly at the moment, giving us time. And, presumably, keeping your mother away."

"Yes, that you can thank me for." They smiled again. He liked it when she smiled. "You can sit, if you want."

She crossed the short distance and sat down on his couch, he moved to sit at the opposite end of it partly out of respect and partly because the last time they had sat closer it had apparently led to them having a child. He knew that pretty much everything in their life had changed, but somehow everything felt as it had all of those years ago.

"Why did you encourage me to leave with him?" she whispered. "I mean, all those years ago. He was just a blind date I went on and then you were all _encouragey_. You could have stopped me."

Nodding he said, "I could have. But I wanted you to have that life, the life you now have."

"In my thirties with a failed marriage behind me, nice life you sent me off to."

"It's one I couldn't give you." She turned and looked at him, their eyes meeting and sharing something until he looked away, back at his shoes. "Or at least I didn't think I could. Marriage, love, children, they were never on the cards."

"So Sara?"

"They weren't on her cards either."

"What about now? I mean, you're older. Mid-thirties, it means you're on the way to the big four-oh." He smiled and shook his head at her jovial tone.

"I…" he started, but then he stopped. He had missed Felicity, more than he had ever thought, more than he had realised and for far more reasons than he had ever considered, but nothing was really that different five years later. He was still trying to run Queen Consolidated, although it was no longer in any financial difficulties and he owned fifty percent with Thea owning the other fifty. He was still the Vigilante, the Hood, the Arrow, the guy who fought criminals each night, risking his life to save others' and to keep the city safe. He was no longer a murderer, not in many years, but he was still a former murderer. How could he be anything more to anyone? It did not matter that he had a daughter, or that he wanted to be a father to her. It did not matter that he could want to be with Felicity, if he allowed himself to. He was still who he was, who the island and everything after that had turned him into.

"Matthew and I are divorcing," she blurted out as he tried to find his words. "Bypassing separation and straight to divorce. There's no point in anything else really." He nodded. "We're going to split custody, half of the week with each of us. I'm going to see if I can change my office hours to be the days I don't have Jessica so I can be a full time Mom when I have her and a full time IT girl when I don't. We'll share the weekends, or maybe alternate them sometimes. It's all pretty amicable really. He's not going to walk out on her like my dad did to me."

"Good," he nodded. "That's good."

"We both talked though. About you." He turned to her with his eyebrows raised. "What would you like to do?" He knew what he wanted, but he also knew what he should do. He knew he had to walk away, when all he wanted to do was kiss the woman sitting so far and yet so close to him.

ARROW-HOOD-QUEEN

"Because it is up to you," she continued without looking up. It had taken her all of this time to summon the courage to see him and discuss the things that needed so badly to be discussed. "I'll tell you right now though, mister, if you want to be in her life, our lives, then it's for good. Unless, you know, like you die or sink on a boat. It's been known to happen," she commented to his questioning glance. "But you don't get to choose to leave. You don't get to abandon us if you think it's too tough or whatever makes fathers leave their children. You'll be stuck with us. I probably wouldn't try and explain to her that you're her father, because, well, she's four. It wouldn't go down too well and would just be confusing. She has enough to deal with right now, the divorce, a new home. But we would tell her at some point."

She paused and took a breath.

"By we, I mean you and I would tell her when she's a bit older. Obviously, with the whole shared custody thing, Matthew is going to remain involved. He's not like my father. I guess that's what caused this whole mess."

"Is Jessica okay?" Oliver asked changing the subject.

"Yeah," she nodded in confusion. "Yep, not even a nightmare."

He was nodding. "I didn't think so, good, that's good."

"You didn't…?" She chuckled and shook her head. "You've been watching us? When did you add stalker to your resume?" Playfully she pushed him, and when he rocked back to centre, Oliver somehow moved an inch closer.

"I was checking that you were all safe."

"All of us?"

"Mainly her."

Felicity nodded and saw a look on his face as it hardened and the moment of emotion she had seen left him. "You don't think you're good enough, do you?" There was no reply. "You think you're dangerous and not the homely-type. I can't promise you the marriage and love stuff, but I can give the children part of your future." She meant it sincerely, but then realised what she had said and where they were sitting so started to babble. "I mean, I already have and you can have her in your life, not let's get down to it and I'll give you another right here, right now. Not that it's completely off the cards. Just maybe not right now, right here. One kid conceived on a couch and not in a loving relationship is enough, right? Okay, I'm counting." _Three, two…_

His lips were suddenly on hers and she thought for a moment that she had forgotten how to breathe. Her eyes closed and she tangled a hand up into his hair as one of his hands cupped her face, the other her waist. When he pulled away, his hand still on her cheek, she finally breathed out.

"She was," he whispered almost into her mouth.

"Huh?"

"Jessica, she was conceived in a loving relationship. I was just too scared of it." He took a long blink. "I still am."

"Hey," she said putting a hand over his on her cheek. "I'm not saying no, because, Sara explained it as ghosts and you've certainly been mine, even before Jess. But, no matter what I feel for you, I can't jump from a marriage into something with you. We don't know that we can work and if we didn't then where does Jess stand?"

"So, slow?"

Nodding, she smiled at him, his thumb caressing her cheek. "Like, maybe you could ask me on a date? And not one involving a play park and ice-cream. But we can do that one, too."

"I've always loved slides."

"Jess, too." They both smiled and then Felicity moved away, out of his reach, but she remained facing him on the couch. "I also have a favour and a suggestion. It could greatly help the potential dating thing." He said nothing so she continued. "Turns out, those change in hours that I wanted, my boss won't allow, so I…"

He cut her off. "It's yours. IT department, not my EA and whatever hours you want." She smiled at him. "And the suggestion?"

"On my off days, when Matthew has Jess, maybe when we're not on a date, I could help out at the lair. Your current IT help is shockingly bad and your systems, they haven't been upgraded in years. Plus, you know, I built them."

He smiled at her, kissing her again. "Deal, but there is a catch with being my girlfriend. Potential girlfriend," he corrected with a smile.

"If it's that pesky Mother of yours, then, the deal might be off," she joked.

"You never, and I mean never, go undercover."

She nodded. "I can do that. When do I start?"

"Monday. Now, when's this family date to the play park?"

 **The End**

 **A/N:** Okay, so at some point I worried that Felicity was a bit not in character, but then I realised that she's changed in those 5+ years. The others are still in the same lives as they were, but she isn't and it isn't just because she's a mother, it's because she's no longer the Girl Friday. So, her character would have changed and be out of character to the show and, at the end, she starts to babble again, but her request to re-join QC and the Arrow Team is not just her rewinding time to erase the years, it's her finding herself again. Hopefully I've done them, and her, justice. I also hope that none of the central characters were hated at any point in reading this, that their motivations are clear and that even Matthew was sympathetic. I quickly realised that I had written myself into a problem because I wanted an Olicity ending, but Matthew was an innocent party so I think I tried to channel _Nashville_. Hopefully, I did them all justice!


End file.
